


Mythical Creature

by theangryblob



Series: Alibaba / Hakuryuu Collection [13]
Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-17
Updated: 2013-02-17
Packaged: 2017-11-29 14:48:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/688180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theangryblob/pseuds/theangryblob
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>30 Day Challenge on Infinite Earths<br/>Day 6 - Mythical Creature</p><p>He's going to spend the rest of his life with out Hakuryuu but</p><p>he</p><p>can't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mythical Creature

**Author's Note:**

> mermaids r the shit iWORKED SO HARD ON THIS APPREACIATE ME U UNGRATEFUL SHITS

To be chosen meant a lot.

To be picked out, from every handsome boy and beautiful girl. To touch the bottom of the ocean, like it was the very ground you’d first walked on. To love, and be loved, by a water child.

They came out often. They lived in much deeper waters, but they frequented the bay like it was their home. And home it was.

They laughed, and swam, and played with all of the humans. Sometimes they helped tug boats out into open water. They were gentle, loving creatures.

But to touch a mermaid was to commit suicide.

As kind as they were, they thought themselves better. And better they were. They could scale the bottoms of the oceans, breathe water and air together. They could sing, and the fish of all the oceans would swarm to them. They were beautiful, ethereal creatures.They came from humans once. They became so much better.   
It was only natural that being touched by a human would disgust them.  
Trying to touch them without their permission was an offence. They would bite you, claw at your skin, drag you under water. They were as beautiful as they were vicious.

It wasn’t their fault. They were born that way, with that pride that made them ever so _desirable_. It was because of this pride, that they chose to humble themselves every few years.

They never really gave a warning (not that anyone cared). Some years, ten of them would choose. Some years, it would be a hundred.   
They would come up, silent and solemn, skimming across the waters surface towards the bay. The fishermen always knew to take their boats in immediately. They don’t mind, not eating for a day, if it meant being able to see such an event.

The whole city would crowd to see them. Some, on bare feet. Others, on slippers embroidered with gold. The hierarchy of humanity was forgotten, in front the ocean’s children. They did not have the division of classes, of races, of gender. They didn’t care about such idiocy.

To be chosen, to become one of them, to become a lover to a water child, was the greatest honor. Sometimes they would pick from the crowd. Sometimes, they would already have human lovers that joined them at this ceremony.

There were tears, usually. Always happy ones. Laughter. The holding of hands. The splash of water as the chosen ran in to greet their new partners. For that person, that one person, the water child would touch them freely, willingly. Kiss them. Hold them close. Love them forever and ever.

And then they would be taken back into the ocean, where they became mermaids themselves.

It is this ceremony, that Alibaba skips. With the entire city, the princes, the beggars, all crowded in front of the water, he had the streets, the stalls, the narrow alleyways all to himself.

He hates it.

Hakuryuu was **_his_** _._

His best friend.

They would both sneak out, late a night. Talk about everything - the food they ate, the girls they talked to, the stories they’d heard. They’d known each other for a long time, ever since Hakuryuu has first come up to see the humans. They were both tiny little things, no older than six. Hakuryuu hadn’t really cared about Alibaba touching him, holding his hand as he waded through the water with his friend swimming beside him.

He thinks back to the last time he’d seen Hakuryuu. Over a week ago. It was the longest time they’d ever spent apart.   
  
It was then, that Hakuryuu told him, that he’d decided that this was the year he’d pick his spouse from the humans. He looked so happy, it hurt. Alibaba’s smile should have come a lot easier than it did. And when he went to hug the mermaid, chest deep in water, he lingered a little longer than usual.

He was probably going to pick Morgiana. She was young and beautiful and polite. He’d caught Hakuryuu looking at her sometimes. It was inevitable.

It hurts. It hurts _so much._ His heart is aching, like its going to rip from his chest, like he can’t breathe because his rib cage is squeezing too tight. For the past week, the very thought of Hakuryuu left him with ragged breath and a giant hole in his heart.

This feeling was constant.

And it was a feeling that had taken him far too long to recognize was even there. But now it was too late. Now, Hakuryuu would pick a pretty girl from the crowd, kiss her, and hold her, and take her to be his wife till he dies. He wouldn’t spend much time with Alibaba anymore. He would have a lover to keep him company.

Alibaba can’t be there to watch. He can’t, he _can’t._ If he goes, he’ll see the moment when Hakuryuu picks someone else. He can already imagine it, every time he closes his eyes, like a nightmare that won’t ever end.

It is when he’s alone in the corner of an alleyway, does he break down. The tears come to him in waves that force him to his knees. They are drowning him, suffocating him. His sobs are broken, ugly things that get stuck halfway through his throat before forcing themselves past his lips, choked and desperate. His nose is running and his eyes are like waterfalls.

He crawls up into a tiny little ball, holding himself, rocking himself back and forth, because he wants to die. He can’t live, not like this. Not when Hakuryuu’s loving someone that isn’t him. Not when he knows that he’s going to be forgotten and abandoned and left all alone, like he always is.

He’s going to die, all alone, because he knows he won’t ever love anyone like he loves Hakuryuu.

The sun was setting, and turning the sky burnt orange in descent. It only now, that Alibaba gets up. His throat is dry and his eyes won’t produce any tears, but his heart still hurts just as much as before. When he stands up, his arms creak and his knees ache, and he wonders just how long he’d spent like that.

The city was still quiet, with only a few people returning to their stalls. Many were still crowded around the beach, and Alibaba gets curious. What if there were still some mermaids that hadn’t picked yet?

What if Hakuryuu was still there?

His heart is racing. He pushes his way through the crowd, ducks beneath people that try to shove him back. He stops breathing at one point. He can only hear the lapping of the waves on sand, the calls of the seagulls.

It is when he breaks through the crowd, that he gets to the front, that he sees why no one had left yet. In the middle of the water, there was still one mermaid left. One mermaid that hadn’t picked yet. Even after hours, the crowd still waited, in anticipation.

It’s Hakuryuu.

Its getting dark, but Alibaba knows its him. He can see him, just barely. His dark hair, his pale skin (God, he hated the sun). He couldn’t make out the icy blue of his tail beneath the water, but he didn’t need to.

Hakuryuu was already waving at him frantically, screaming his name out into the open air. Someone pushed him forward. Someone tugged him back. He ignored both of them as he ran forward into the water, tossing away his shoes and jacket. Maybe a beggar would get them. He didn’t care.

He runs as fast as he can through the water, and when that becomes too difficult, he falls forward and swims. And he swims, he swims fast, because he’s practiced so many times with Hakuryuu.

He has to go to him, because the water is too shallow for him to swim. So when Alibaba’s feet can no longer touch the ground, all he has to do is lean forward and fall into Hakuryuu’s waiting arms.

He crying all over again, clutching to Hakuryuu for dear life. And he holds him steady, because he’s strong, he’s so strong. Alibaba wraps his arms around him, his hands resting above the others dorsal fins. He buries his face into his neck, his lips pressing against thin, papery gills.

“Why the hell did you keep me waiting so long?”   
Hakuryuu is pretending to be angry, but Alibaba knows him so much better. He has to force his mouth to form the words, because he’s crying too hard and everything feels so strange all at once. “I-I- thought you were going t-t-to pick someone else.”

“You’re such an idiot!”

And with that, Hakuryuu pulls his face and kisses him. It is strange and beautiful and their teeth are knocking together awkwardly and wow his teeth are a lot sharper than he expected and he can feel his heart speeding up even more and oh he’s starting to feel light headed -

Hakuryuu pulls away, because he knows Alibaba can’t hold his breath well. He rests his forehead against the others, and Alibaba cant tell if Hakuryuu is crying or not, but he doesn’t care, he doesn’t care about anything except how Hakuryuu was holding him, and kissing him, and that he’d take him to the ocean kingdom and love him till he dies.

And he can’t imagine anything better than this moment, and he won’t ever need to.


End file.
